Travel News: June 25, 2018

This year, the annual Independence Day kick-off known as Fair Saint Louis also includes the grand opening of a brand-new museum at the city’s most iconic landmark, the 630-foot-high Gateway Arch.

The museum, which replaces the former Museum of Westward Expansion built in 1976, is just one part of a $380-million facelift known as the CityArchRiver Project. The five-year redo includes a new name for the iconic site, now called Gateway Arch National Park.

After several years of breakneck growth in the USA, European low-cost carrier Norwegian Air is setting its sights on Canada.

The airline announced on Thursday that it would begin flying from Montreal this fall and from and Hamilton, Ontario, next spring.

“This is only our first step into Canada and as the world’s fastest-growing airline, we look forward to expanding our presence here in the next few years,” Thomas Ramdahl, Norwegian’s Chief Commercial Officer, said in a statement.

Amazon has launched a version of Alexa for hotels that lets guests order room service through the voice assistant, ask for more towels or get restaurant recommendations without having to pick up the phone and call the front desk. Marriott has signed up for the service, and will place Amazon Echo smart speakers in 10 hotels this summer.

Amazon said data from hotel guests will be deleted daily, and Marriott said those who don’t want an Echo device in their room can ask to have it removed.

Speaking at the Amazon Web Services Public Sector Summit in Washington, DC last week, Rob Meyerson, a senior vice-president at Blue Origin, echoed the company’s previous updates that it plans to start testing manned rockets later in the year. But he added a new wrinkle at the conference: “We expect to start selling tickets in 2019,” he said.

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By: Matt Long

Matt has a true passion for travel. As someone who has a bad case of the travel bug, Matt travels the world in order to share tips on where to go, what to see and how to experience the best the world has to offer.
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